


Sweet Kiss

by NovelistAngel23



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, First Kiss, M/M, The Pocky Game, past weeb Marco
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-14
Updated: 2015-11-14
Packaged: 2018-05-01 15:20:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5210795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NovelistAngel23/pseuds/NovelistAngel23
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Okay, and how do you win?”</p>
<p>Marco blushed. He hadn’t even thought about that. “W-well… You lose if you back off…”</p>
<p>“And if neither of you back off?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sweet Kiss

“Jean!” Marco raced across the field to Jean, who stood with his backpack on one shoulder waiting for him. “Jean! I’m glad I caught you!”

Once Marco made it to his side, panting breathlessly and grinning that sweet smile of his, Jean smiled back and turned to continue his trek home with Marco in tow. “Hmm, good news or bad?”

Marco waved his hand dismissively at his statement, searching through his messenger bag. It was still covered in buttons from his middle school days. He’d mellowed out since those days but was too much of a sentimental sap to throw away the reminders. “No news,” he replied, digging out a long, rectangular box. “Just a quiz.”

Jean studied the box--it was bright red with a picture of what seemed to be chocolate dipped sticks on the cover. Marco shook it at him, and it rattled. “Do you remember these things?”

Jean raised an eyebrow at him in question. The box said pocky, but he knew he wouldn’t have been able to pull the word from his own head if he’d tried. “Can’t say I do?”

Marco pouted at him, and Jean had to laugh. He had the cutest pout, all sparkling brown eyes and full lips. “Aww, come on, it’s only been a few years, you really don’t remember?”

Jean shrugged in response, poking the box with one finger. “Well, it says pocky, but that’s all I know.”

Marco sighed, as if accepting the reality. “Well, okay, that’s not important anyway.” His grin returned as he nudged Jean in the shoulder with his own. “You know how today is 11/11 right?”

“Yeah. What about it?”

Marco grinned. “Today is pocky day!” he laughed. Jean, noticing they were walking near the road now, discreetly switched to Marco’s other side to stand between him and the street as Marco--blissfully unaware--continued, “In Japan and other Asian countries, people buy pocky for the ones they love--romantically, I mean.”

Jean nodded, raising his eyebrows again. “What about it?”

Marco wished for a moment that he had long hair that could hide his blush. “Oh, w-well, it’s-- I-I mean, there’s also this game that they play, and I was-- Well, I was thinking we could-- Y-you know… play it?”

Jean squinted at him suspiciously. Whenever Marco got nervous like this, it meant he was going to say something awkward or fail at flirting. He was predictable in that sense. “Yeah? What kind of game?”

Marco only turned more red. They were already at Jean’s house, and the two of them skipped up the steps. As Jean unlocked the front door, Marco tried to figure out how to describe it. “W-well, it’s k-kinda like… Like, gay chicken you know!”

Jean laughed, but it was a good natured sound that made Marco feel a little more at ease. He’d thought Jean would be weirded out. “Gay chicken, huh? How does it work then?”

Marco settled down on Jean’s couch, the way he did at the end of every school day, as he tried to explain. “Well, you both put one end of the pocky stick in your mouth, and then like, you have to try to eat it--”

Jean hopped over the arm of the couch after having poured them both some lemonade to drink--despite it being November, it was still impossibly hot out. “Okay, and how do you win?”

Marco blushed. He hadn’t even thought about that. “W-well… You lose if you back off…”

Jean nodded, resting his elbow on the back of the couch and his cheek on his knuckles. “And if neither of you back off?”

They looked at each other for a long while, Jean’s smile growing wider and Marco’s blush growing brighter. Marco eventually laughed a little, and asked, “Well, what happens if you don’t back off in gay chicken?”

“You have sex.”

Marco let out a scandalized gasp and playfully pushed at Jean’s arm, which only made him cackle and stick his tongue out at Marco. “Why don’t we set up rules then?” Jean asked, reaching out for the pack of pocky in Marco’s hands. Their fingers brushed. “If one of us loses, they get the rest of the box to do whatever they want with. And if neither of us backs off, we have to kiss-- _no getting out of it_ \--and try again.” Jean paused for a moment as he pulled out a stick of pocky and looked at Marco intently. “Sound good?”

Marco looked like he might have a heart attack--just the very idea of kissing Jean, even for a silly game, made his heart pound. He nodded hastily a beat too late to be believable. “Y-yeah, yeah, that sounds good!”

Jean smiled and settled the pocky stick between his lips like a cigarette (he’d given up smoking those before he’d even started, luckily). Marco leaned forward and hesitantly clamped his lips around the other side.

For a moment, neither of them moved, staring at each other with wide eyes. They couldn’t be sure if they’d ever been so close before, and it made their minds wander. When one of them finally moved forward, how close would they be? Would they pull away in time, before the kiss? Would they want to?

It was Marco who finally closed his eyes and nibbled a bit more of the stick. If he kept his eyes closed like this, he could combat the nerves. He wanted his box of treats--after all he’d paid for them, and he wouldn’t lose them to Jean.

But then he felt Jean’s nose brush his. Cool chocolate brushed the tips of his lips. He tilted his head for fear of smashing his nose against Jean’s. For a moment, his mind began to entertain the idea of neither of them backing off--what would Jean’s lips feel like? He’d imagined before, but that was long ago when he’d been too shy to do anything about it.

Now he felt the tingle of closeness against his lips--as if he could sense Jean’s body warmth. His eyes shut a little tighter than they had before, anticipating the kiss--and not the CRUNCH of Jean biting into the stick and abruptly pulling away, leaving Marco with his piece.

Marco’s eyes shot open, and he sat back. “Jean!” Jean started to cackle at his expression. “That’s so unsportsmanlike!”

Jean only laughed harder. “It’s called finding a loophole!”

He reached for the pocky box again, but Marco’s hand shot out before his could. When he looked up to meet Marco’s gaze, he saw a challenge in it. “I think you’re just too scared to go all the way.”

They both blushed at Marco’s unfortunate wording, but Jean accepted the challenge with narrowed eyes and a growing smirk. He leaned forward again and took another pocky stick out, this time letting Marco take the chocolate covered half. They both looked each other in the eyes like before, but now they both smiled around their stick.

Ever so slowly, they inched forward, never cutting eye contact with each other. Marco’s heart pounded in his chest again. His eyes inevitably flickered down to gaze at Jean’s lips. They were thin and chapped, but to Marco’s eyes they were almost inviting. He leaned forward a little closer until there was barely even an inch left between their mouths.

They looked up at each other, and it was only then that Marco realized Jean had been looking at his lips too. They blushed almost simultaneously. They’d certainly never been this close before. Marco was too scared to move forward, and too invested to just pull away, and way too moral to just break off his half.

It seemed like forever before Jean finally grunted his decision and leaned forward to bite off his half of the treat and offer Marco a sudden, lingering kiss.

It lasted for all of a half of a second, but to them, it seemed to last years and years. Marco swore he could hear music playing, the romantic comedy kind, the warm and peaceful kind, the kind that made his heart melt. He closed his eyes for the briefest moment before Jean pulled away. They stared at each other for a moment, biting their lips and laughing softly and then looking away.

It was Marco who offered that they try again. It was Jean who said he wouldn’t give up until he won. It was an entire afternoon spent eating the entire box together and sharing sweet kisses that lasted just a little longer each time.

And their lemonade stood forgotten beside them, but neither of them cared one bit.

**Author's Note:**

> I'M WEAK OKAY, I couldn't help but write more weeby Marco, he's my dorky son. Enjoy the short but sweet pocky kisses (and the title is totally not named after the Pokemon move, what??? Noooooo...) (I'm a weeb too)


End file.
